Chapter Text
“Bro I swear to god if you make one more tiktok reference…”
Denki was done. Tiktok was fun, it really was. Denki liked the music and the pretty girls dancing around, he liked the cool cosplays and weird filters. However, that was until his bro got fucking hooked on it - if Kirishima wasn’t on the goddamn app, he was talking about the app and if he wasn’t talking about it he was planning on what to upload next.
Kiri was a cool bro - really strong guy but very gentle - still, his tiktok obsession was getting out of hand. They had met up at Kiri’s apartment for their friday gamovie night like they always did, but the redhead had yet to stop and actually pay attention to his friends.
Sprawled out on one of the sofas, phone in hand, Kirishima sighed “Denki, bro… It’s just this song, you know? It won’t get out of my head...”
“Then stop listening to it!”
“You know I can’t control what people post, bro...”
“Oh for fuck’s sake” Mina interceded “Just delete the damn thing” She threw a popcorn in Kirishima’s direction to strengthen her point “It’s not like you’re gonna get tiktok famous overnight”
“Mean, Mina”
“Or get one of those apps for meditation an’ stuff” Sero tried, gulping down a mouthful of popcorn before continuing “Those that can, like, control what you access or not on your phone”
“But...” Kirishima pouted “What if there’s an emergency?”
“Oh come on” Denki rested his forehead on his palm “Just give me one example of an emergency that might involve the need to open tiktok”
“Bro, I don’t know! Maybe something like...”
They waited.
“Like?”
“Like… Like I don’t know bro! I just don’t like the idea of an app controlling me!”
Mina let out a laugh, a mean one “TikTok is controlling you right now and look who’s not concerned”
“And who was the one screaming at us for not gettin’ ‘swing snap rock’ right, huh?”
“Oh that was decades ago, Kiri!”
“My point is” Kirishima got up “You all were into it too, so what’s the problem now?”
“That’s not it bro” Sero tried again “You’ve just been… You know, too into it for your own good. We just want you to take a small break, that’s all”
“Also” Denki started once more “We’ve got our midterms in what, two weeks?”
“Five days, oh my god, Denki”
“Yeah, so, as Pinky said, midterms in five days. We still gotta focus on that and there’s class and stuff… That app is taking too much of your free time”
The pout was back on Kirishima’s face, but he looked like he was actually thinking about what they had said, so the group waited.
“Look” Kiri combed a few stray hairs with his fingers as he said “Alright, I get it, I get what you guys mean” Mina let out a breath and reached for his phone “I will delete the app until after midterms. But… But I have a condition”
“...Which is?” Denki asked.
“Tell me it’s not that we have to make a goodbye tiktok with you, please, please...” Sero pleaded.
“No, it’s not. Although I kinda like it, it’s not that”
Mina sighed, sitting back on her calves, waiting “What’s the condition, Kiri?”
“If” Kirishima raised his shoulders, index finger pointing up “If I find a reason to stay on the app, then I won’t delete it”
“What? Kiri, bro, how’s that fair, you’re just gonna say you gotta keep up with the trends or whatever”
“No, Denki, bro, I promise, like, if I find a really good reason to not delete it, then you guys won’t make me do it, that’s my deal”
The other three looked at each other, if Denki knew his friends as much as he thought he did, they were all thinking the same thing ‘this is gonna be hard’.
“Alright. Kirishima Eijirou, if you find one hell of a good reason to not delete this shit, then we won’t make you do it.”
________
Looking back at it now, Kirishima had dug his own grave.
Tiktok was great but there wasn’t a single goddamn reason for him to not delete it besides ‘the videos make me happy’. Who needed happiness before midterms? No one, that’s who.
After their little “intervention”, Denki, Mina and Sero had decided on a random zombie movie to watch and then another one and another one, until they were all sound asleep in his apartment’s small living room. Denki had somehow snatched the best spot on the sofa for himself, his head supported by not one, but two of Kiri’s favorite pillows. Sero, on the other hand, had ended up sleeping on the floor, surrounded by popcorn bows and a few blankets - Kirishima made a mental note to cover the boy before going to sleep himself. Mina, smart as always, ended with her head on Kirishima’s lap and the rest of her body curled up on the end of the sofa opposite Denki's.
Kirishima, however, wasn’t fast asleep nor had he paid attention to any of the movies. No, he was too preoccupied trying to convince himself that there should be a reason somewhere for him to keep the app on his phone.
Well, I enjoy the cosplays. He had tried reasoning with himself. And the dances.
But how is that a good reason?
He knew he needed to get off the app for a bit. Christ, he couldn’t even make breakfast without starting to sing ‘somebody come get her, she’s dancing like a stripper’ repeatedly. Also, he wasn’t even famous. He only had 121 followers, which - although very much appreciated - was nothing compared to the tiktok legends out there.
Kirishima sighed, letting his head fall back on the sofa, lazily treading his fingers through Mina’s curls. Oh screw it. If the reason existed, it would manifest itself eventually… Somehow.
The next morning, he got himself busy with making pancakes for his friends and then with listening to Denki’s straight-out monologue about his new partner for his advanced physics class.
“He looks like he has been sleep deprived since birth, bro, I swear to god!”
And then, when his friends had left, he found some random chores to do, he cleaned the kitchen and washed the dishes, picked up popcorn from the surroundings of his TV and organized his cushions by color. Kirishima even attempted to try and write a few paragraphs of his thesis.
Worthless. The moment his feet dragged him back into his room and to get on his bed, he was reaching out for his phone and opening the cursed app.
If Kirishima said he hadn’t spent the next two hours scrolling through colorful videos, he would be lying.
He was actually trying to learn a new dance when the app suddenly refreshed his feed on its own.
“Oh fuck, did I like the video? Please, tell me I did...”
As cliche as it may sound, that was when he saw it. His finger hovering over the bottom of the page to go to his own profile, Kirishima stared at the most beautiful human being he had ever seen. Holy shit.
The video was quite simple, the screen divided in three, a blonde guy made different angry faces to the beat of the song playing. The first thing Kirishima noticed were his eyes, sharp ones, staring straight at his soul from the screen. Is that red? He’s wearing contacts, right? And then his lips, the smirk that appeared after three beats and the small smile at the end. Kissable.
Oh fuck.
Kirishima swapped right, going to the boy’s profile. He’s famous. 245k followers.
KingExM
@king_ex_mur
120 245.3k 20.7M
Following Followers Likes
He/Him
Do I look like I care? Very much gay so f*ck off
BLM here (link)
What a weird ass bio.
He didn’t look japanese. Asian, maybe, if the eyes were anything to go by. His content consisted mostly of povs - “Point of Views” or, simply, short stories - no cosplay, no dances, just a guy staring at the camera and acting out a thirty second scene. Here and there, he posted a video similar to the one Kirishima had seen. Fanservice, I guess.
Kirshima scrolled through his profile, opening videos randomly. He hardly answers people on his comments.
Eijirou stopped at one video. Apparently, a pov where your soulmate’s favorite food appeared as a tattoo somewhere on your body at the age of eighteen. Kirishima watched in a trance as KingExM acted out a very convincing scene of someone getting pissed off at a burger.
Damn.
If I wasn’t gay before this would be my awakening.
Acting skills aside this man was simply gorgeous. Pretty, even. Perky nose, high cheekbones, hair so blond Kirishima was tempted to think it was dyed that color and those goddamn eyes. So manly.
Without noticing, Kirishima found himself at a five-month-old post. Another pov. This time a cute one. KingExM was acting out a Bambi scene - Kirishima had to hold a snort at the thought that KingExM was a Bambi person - the whole ordeal was quite simple, Bambi having to meet - and consequently greet - Faline, a female deer.
As Eijirou watched a very pouty KingExM refuse to say “Hello”, the audio of their meeting and Bambi’s mother’s encouraging words echoed through Kirishima’s bedroom, the sixty-second sketch playing over and over.
“Fucking adorable” Kirishima breathed. Pretty sure my heart just skipped a beat. His tumb automatically liked the video - and no one had to know he had added it to his favorites - hovering over to the comment section.
deku_.cos: hittin’ home on this one
king_ex_mur: reply to @deku_.cos fuck off
icy_hot_.cosplays: reply to @king_ex_mur you’re going to get banned
King_ex_mur: reply to @icy_hot_.cosplays fuck. off.
((view more (12))
baby.net: so cuuuuuuuute
crownking1: adorableeee, your the best!!!!
kingexmurbaby: so hot baby your so hot
ya.boy.men: does he listen to boy in red?
hi_maayyy: reply to @ya.boy.men bro read his bio wtf
((view more (42)))
With the exception of the very first comment, KingExM hadn’t replied to anyone else, a random like thrown here and there to show he appreciated a comment, but that was all.
Hmm.
Kirishima was about to click on “deku_.cos”’s profile, when his phone started to vibrate, “Pink Queen” flashing on his screen, a facetime call coming through.
“Hey babe!” Mina greeted as soon as Kirishima picked up “How ya doing?”
“Yo, let me plug my phone, just a sec” Finally distracted from the cursed app, Eijirou noticed his battery was almost dead, dangerous 7% stared at him from across the screen. Letting his phone fall on the bed, he reached over the nightstand to pull his cable.
“Mind if I ask why you’re half naked, honey?”
“Oh stop it” Phone being charged and now in his hand, Kirishima let himself lay on his bed, back supported by a few pillows “Cleaning up made it too hot to wear a shirt”.
Over the screen, Mina was sipping on a patterned mug, steam fogging up the reading glasses she had on.
“Sure… Just tell me if I interrupted something”
“Mina!”
“Just kidding” Ashido giggled, clearly proud of her own lack of modesty “Called to check on you, actually, you looked half dead this morning”
Oh.
“I didn’t sleep well” Kirishima scratched the back of his head, avoiding eye contact “Guess the movies were a bit too much”
“The movies, huh” Mina took off her glasses, moving around her own bed to get more comfortable.
“Yeah...”
A few beats passed before she said anything.
“So… About the TikTok thing”
Kirishima was fast to cut her off “Oh, Queen, don’t, you all agreed to give me some time”
“I know babe, I know, it’s just… I thought I should give you the chance to, ya know, talk to me if you needed”
“Talk about TikTok with you?”
“You see, I read this article that said it was easier to overcome addictions when you had a friend to cheer you on -”
“It’s not an addiction, Mina, oh my god” Eijirou grabbed another pillow to hug.
“Babe...”
Kirishima sighed “I don’t even know if it’s possible to be addicted to an app, Queen”
“Fair point, but still… I mean, I love you and you know it, Denks and Hanta do too, we’re just worried about you, that’s all”
Hugging his pillow tighter around his chest, Kirishima wondered if he had actually ignored his friends over TikTok. The thought made a tight knot form on his belly, he loved his bros.
“I’m fine, promise”
A text appeared right over Mina’s head, “bro, did you see the new league cham-” followed by Denki’s name, successfully diverting his attention. Weirdly, a blonde face popped on his mind.
“Yo, Queen” Mina’s golden eyes focused back on his through the screen “Back when you used TikTok, you were quite popular, right?”
“A bit, I guess” Ashido tilted her head “Why?”
“Hm” Kirishima switched tabs on his phone, going back to KingExM’s profile and copying the link to it “Do you know this one? I’m guessing you still have the app installed”
Eijirou watched as Mina clicked the link he had sent her and briefly scanned King’s profile.
“His face is familiar, babe, might have seen him on my dash a few times, quite the eye candy too, why?”
“‘Cause I might be simping”
Mina threw her head back on a laugh “Oh babe, no, don’t do that to yourself”
Face reddening, Kirishima crackled a smile “Can’t say he ain’t hot”
“That he is” Ashido smacked her lips together “Also, some nice titties he’s got there”
“Pfft - QUEEN!” Eijirou laughed, he hadn’t paid attention to that.
Reaching over towards the place Kirishima knew her nightstand was, Mina grabbed something “What’chu gonna do about it?”
Once again, Kirishima scratched the back of his head, was he supposed to do something about it?
“Huh… Well, nothing I guess?”
“Oh, please.”
“No, really, I - I didn’t think I was supposed to do something about it?”
“‘M not asking you to propose to him, Ei, just, ya know, make the simping mutual, maybe?”
“Queen, what even… He’s famous, Mina!”
“So?”
Kirishima shaked his head “Gimme a sec”, getting out of the bed and leaving his phone among the many pillows there, the redhead briefly scanned the room for the shirt previously discarded.
A quick trip to the kitchen to get some snacks and a can of Coke later, Eijirou was back in his bed, picking his phone back up and letting Mina know he had arrived.
“I was looking through cute pie’s profile, babe. Mostly povs, huh?”
“Yup” Kirishima crossed his legs, getting comfortable once more “He popped up on my “for you” earlier today, to tell you the truth, that last video of his”
“And then your heart went boom boom?”
“No, queen, this is not some fanfic” Eijirou laughed, switching tabs once more to answer Denki. “Thought he was cute, that’s all”
“Hmm” Mina mused, apparently answering her own pending messages “Still, he got you curious”
Well. Kirishima wasn’t one to lie. That man was hot. And it also wasn’t often that he binge watched a random person’s content on TikTok purely because they were almost too pretty to be true.
“Dunno if curious” Eijirou mumbled “There’s this one video… Imma send it to you” Switching over to TikTok once more, he went to his “Favorite” tab, opening the Bambi video again and copying the link.
He heard the first lines of the dialogue before Mina muted herself.
A few seconds passed before she whispered “Fuck that was cute, Ei, what the fuck”
“I know, right?” he giggled. It was pleasant to know he wasn’t the only one affected by that video.
“Duet it” she replied, face suddenly very serious.
“What? No.”
“Ei! Why not?”
“How… How weird would that be, Mina, what”
“It wouldn’t be weird!”
“He’s famous, Queen!”
“And you’re HOT, Eijirou!”
“What kind of logic-”
“There isn’t one, Ei! Come on! Worst case scenario he doesn’t see it!”
“Worst case scenario he sees it and blocks me”
“Oh, please-”
“Mina”
“Ei! No - Don’t even start, you’re going to overthink it. Go take a bath, fix your hair, I’ll help you through it”
Eijirou pouted, half a chip hanging off of his mouth.
“If it’s horrible, I promise I won’t make you post it”
“Queen...”
“C’mon! It’ll be fun!”
“...Fine”